Currently Without A Life
by strawberryfinn
Summary: Sequel to Currently Without a Name. Tapeworm's struggling to deal with the problems with his father, and he's fallen in love. He also finds that Zack and Cody have a hidden secret, and it's up to him to fix things between them.
1. Red Smears and Bleeding Hearts

**Author's Note**: Miss Finn here. I finished _Currently Without a Name_ a while ago, a Tapeworm-centered fiction. I'd like to say I do _not _own _The Suite Life _or any of the characters, and I do not own some songs I mention in this, like Lifehouse's _You and Me_, or the Pillsbury dough boy. I suggest that you read _Currently Without a Name_ before you read this fiction, however—it will be easier to grasp the concepts of this story, which happens to be the sequel. I was prompted to write a sequel by some of my reviewers, so here it is. In this fiction, there will be some abuse again, so I have rated it T. Also, Tapeworm falls in love, and must learn to deal with keeping Cody stable and managing to keep himself stable from the feelings he has about the girl he loves and how much he misses his father. So I hope you enjoy, please read and review.

Chapter 1: Red Smears and Bleeding Hearts

"Come on, Cody!" Zack's calling to his twin brother, Cody, who happens to be my best friend as well. Cody looks up at Zack, still busy stuffing his face with pizza. One thing Cody can eat extremely intensely is pizza. He only eats cheese pizza though, seeing that he's a vegetarian, and he doesn't exactly care for vegetarian pizza. (If you've heard of his pet duck Itchy, you'd know why. I'm too lazy to explain it).

Who am I? Well, you may remember me from this thing I wrote awhile ago, called _Currently Without a Name_, if you read it Yeah, I just wrote it down for this creative writing project thing—nothing big. Just something to do to get out of Reformation English. I did pretty well on it too; I guess Mrs. Bolter felt bad for me when she read about the whole dad and paint thing.

My name's Tapeworm—or actually, Sean Axle. I was dubbed Tapeworm after I ate twenty hotdogs in under two minutes. I love hotdogs, I really do. I have brown hair and brown eyes, and I also have three sisters, but they're all grown up and have moved away by now. I have OCD, or obsessive compulsive disorder, but I'm really only affected by the whole "even numbers" thing, unless I get an idea, which sticks in my head and refuses to get out.

Right now, I'm living with my mom, and I'm perfectly fine with that, seeing that I hate my dad's guts. I admit that sometimes I miss him, but I really think I'm better off without him—sort of like Zack and Cody, who live with their mom in this snazzy hotel called the _Tipton. _I don't know if you've ever heard of London Tipton, but her father owns that hotel.

You would know all of this if you've read _Currently Without a Name_, which I really suggest you read, so I don't have to explain this all again.

Anyway, for those of you who _have_, Zack's still dating Max. Zack and Cody are getting perfectly fine now, even after that whole paint incident where Zack tried to drown Cody and me in paint. Zack is now even closer to Cody than I am—I'm sort of jealous, I'll admit. I wish I could have someone depend on me like that, and someone I could depend on all the time. I still have this weird quirky thing for hotdogs, and we're sophomores now. Cody and I are still in the whole advanced placement—Trigonometry now—and Agnes still likes Cody. A lot of girls like Cody now, actually. His rather short frame has grown a little, and he's more lanky now. Not as lanky as me of course. Call me Mr. Super Lanky Man. Anyway, he's grown out his hair a little, so it sort of curves over his face in this sidebang thing, and his eyes are the same. Girls like Cody—not as many girls as Zack has after him—but they like Cody. Besides, Zack's not single. He's with Max.

Me? I'm currently single—not interested in girls though. I have too many things to worry about right now—like, learn not to explode when the volleyball team loses and keep up in Social Studies. Some girls like me—especially this one really annoying girl named Kailey, but it's all good. I don't like anybody, usually nobody wants to go out with me. I went to prom though—I took this girl named Emma. It was cool.

Cody still stinks at sports, with his asthmatic self, but he's found that he can actually swim pretty well. So he's on the swim team. Me? Well, I've found out how to do my homework more quickly and not get distracted, so I've picked up a sport too.

That'd be volleyball—this boy's volleyball team that our school just set up. Call me a dork, but I love it. And I'm actually good at it, so I'm sticking with that.

Zack, of course, is still Mr. Big-shot Basketball Boy.

Just kidding. He still plays basketball, but Zack and I are pretty tight now, ever since he learned how to control his actions and not hang around with Drew anymore. Well, not as tight as I am with Cody, but pretty close. Zack would be one of my best friends. His best friend, besides Cody, is still definitely Bob though. Ah, someone I can't stand _now _is Bob. He looks so stupid when he smiles, his eyes all squinting up and his freckled face looking so dumb.

Yes, I'm still Tapeworm—I haven't changed at all for a year. Well, except for appearance.

No, don't worry. I still have the crazy hair. I've grown a lot though. I grew like five inches since last year, and I'm 6'1". That's pretty tall, don't you think—last year I was still pretty tall, but I guess I'm a lot taller now. My height really helps when I need to spike that volleyball.

"_Cody!_"

Whoops, reality check for you.

Cody's still eating, and Zack's still yelling. Sorry if I blabbered for such a long time.

"I'm _hungry_," Cody's stressing, looking at his brother with his brown eyes. "I haven't been able to eat pizza for awhile, seeing that you always order _pepperoni._ You know I don't eat meat—ever since," he shudders, "Itchy."

Yeah, Cody's still got those puppy eyes that force you to do everything even if you want nothing less than to do them. And he actually cared a whole lot about Itchy. It was a pet _duck_, you've got to admit that's pretty cool.

Zack falls for them too. It's impossible not to fall for those puppy eyes.

"Yeah, ok. I'll go outside. But I'm _not _becoming vegetarian, just because of _you_," he mutters, and takes off through the doors.

See, we're at a pizza place, sort of celebrating because Cody's whole swim team thing is going to the championships, if you even have championships for _swimming._ Ah, call me a hypocrite.

Anyway, Zack organized the whole thing—just for us guys—well, that's me, Cody, Zack, Bob, Warren, and Jeremy. (And Max, if she's included as a "guy." Well, she's always been kind of a tomboy, but she's changed. We all have). That actually sort of surprised me. Zack's never really been ambitious or anything, and all the sudden he just jumps to give Cody something. I guess he feels he owes it to his brother, since Cody's always so nice to everybody, and he finally has something to celebrate for that's _not _academics. (Cody's a straight A student, as you probably should know—I get A's in math… anything besides that, I get B's or below. I failed Social Studies last trimester, so Cody's tutoring me again. He doesn't want me to fail—_that _would not be good).

I decide to stay with Cody, seeing that I owe him at least that. He had to watch me eat six hotdogs, flinching as I ate each one—messiness and all. Cody's vegetarianess has been increasing a lot in intensity—he gives me a lecture on how meat can clog up my arteries like every day, and how I'll die at a young age if I keep eating so many hotdogs. _That's _something that's gotten a bit more annoying about Cody. He should learn to leave my hotdogs alone. They didn't do anything. But I admit, things get pretty messy, and Cody—who's supreme neat freak—has to go through _that _too. He also has to go through my OCD quirks… well, the basic short answer is that Cody has to watch me do a lot of nasty things, and I owe him at least sitting with him in this pathetic pizza parlor that sells the crummiest hotdogs I've ever tasted. And trust me, I've tried a _lot _of hotdogs in my lifetime.

Warren, Jeremy, Bob, and Max don't seem to care about Cody as much as I do. They follow Zack out the door, leaving Cody and I sitting alone.

The pizza at this place is _nasty_. Just watching Cody eating it makes me want to puke, but that happens a lot, so it's not surprising. The cheese is all oozing, and the surface is oily… ugh.

I don't say anything though. Cody looks like he wants to puke everytime I eat a hotdog. Yesterday he asked me, "When are you going to stop eating those things? You know, your arteries can clog up and you can _die._"

I just looked at him. 'So what?"

"So you'll never get to take Isabelle to prom."

That's when I considered even giving up hotdogs. Call me crazy.

Ok… so, do you know what I said about now liking any girls?

That's not completely true.

Call me a liar, I'm know. I'm sorry.

There's this one girl. _Isabelle._ And our lovely, young Tapeworm has fallen "head over heels" in love with her. Literally.

Every single time I see her, I mess up—trip, something. The first time I saw her, I fell down a whole flight of stairs because I was so busy looking at her. The second time I saw her, I dropped all my backpack on Cody's foot. The third time I saw her, I dropped all four of my hotdogs—and you know how much I _love _hotdogs. The fourth time… well, you get the idea now.

I don't know. Isabelle? She's not someone you'd label beautiful. She's not even cute or pretty. What does she look like?

Well, she has sort of short, shiny black hair that's layered, and straight, even teeth. There's this way that she moves that's sort of this weird ripple, even when she walks. Her eyes are brown, and they're constantly excited looking, like every day she lives is an adventure.

Why do I like her? I honestly don't know.

It's just that everytime I see her, it feels like I'm the Pillsbury Dough Boy and someone's poking my stomach. Everytime she talks to me, it's like my throat's closed up and I can't talk, like squeezing a tube of toothpaste and watching as it squeezes up. Just pretend that's my neck—that's saying something, because you all know how much I love to talk. Everytime I look at her, I notice the way her chin curves, or the way she tucks a strand of hair behind her ear.

I don't know.

But everything she does seems perfect to me, like in _You and Me_ by Lifehouse—that verse where they say, "_Everything she does, is beautiful. And everything she does is right."_

I wouldn't just fall for anybody.

Some statistics? Well, Isabelle—she's… she's not popular, you couldn't say that. But she's confident, and she's got a strong self-esteem. She doesn't get pressured into things easily, and she's definitely a leader. She doesn't care what people think about her, only about what she thinks of herself. She laughs when she wants too, even if nobody else thinks something's funny. She's always helping out those kids who need it...

She's so nice to everybody. It's almost impossible to be that nice to everyone, I think. She's not mean to anybody—I don't think she's aware of hate… I mean…

I don't know.

I just know that I've fallen for her, and nobody else has. I just know that I love her, but she doesn't know, or I don't think so. I just know that I've fallen head over heels in love with her, and I want her to know, but I'm dodging around and hiding it from her instead.

I used to think love was stupid. Honestly, I didn't get the whole idea of hiding who you liked. If you liked somebody, I thought, you might as well tell them. The worst they could do was just say that they didn't like you the same way or something.

That _was _until I fell in love myself. Now I'm afraid to talk to her, because I think I'll do something wrong. I'm afraid to tell her, because she'll reject me and leave me with my heart torn out, bleeding…

I'm afraid, because even though I've never experienced it, I've heard that love hurts. A lot. And you know she must be something special, because _Tapeworm _fell for her, after all.

"Tapeworm!"

Cody's voice brings me back to reality.

"Dude, I've been calling you for the last five minutes, and you didn't say anything. Come on, I'm done! Let's go!"

Ok, forget Isabelle for a few seconds. I'm going outside with Cody, and I don't want to think about her, or else I'll crash into a door. That's what happened last time, anyway.

We step outside, and Cody shivers. It's pretty cold outside after all.

"Hey, where's Zack?" Cody asks me.

I just shrug. I don't know.

That's when we hear a scuffle from the other side of the building. "Help!"

Cody and I run over there—which is probably not the smartest thing to do, but when have _I _been smart? Cody should be smarter, I think.

Anyway, there's red smears on the ground, and Zack's moaning because someone's got their arm around his neck and is pulling hard against his throat, and he almost can't gasp for help. "Help! Cody!"

And there's red stuff everywhere.

I'm sorry if it's a bit repetitive. Please review for more.

-Finn


	2. Lovely Surprises

**Author's Note**: I don't own _The Suite Life_ or the characters (mainly Tapeworm). This is the sequel to _Currently Without a Name_, so I suggest going to read that before you read this. I don't own Bob the Builder or _The Wizard of Oz_ or anything else I happen to mention. Hope you like this chapter, read and review please.

Chapter 2: Lovely Surprises

"Oh my God."

I glance over at Cody, whose voice is strangely weak and hollow, sort of like what I would expect a tadpole to sound like if it was talking after it had been out of water for too long and was going to die. It sounds like one of those kids who has just stuck his head under water to see what it would feel like to drown and then pulls up gasping and flopping around on land like a fish that was on land. He's just standing there, not exactly knowing what to do, reminding me somehow of a pathetic rabbit like the one I saw in the pet shop a week ago.

I'm sort of surprised. I'd think Cody would be running over there and attacking the guy who's hurting Zack, thrashing or punching or whatever—see, swimming gives him muscles—but he's just standing there, his eyes wide and helpless like that same rabbit and not thumping around like a grizzly bear. (I mean, Cody's not hairy, but when someone hurts Zack he usually jumps up and tries to defend him).

"Please…" his voice cracks softly and it just shakes up and down. "Please… don't hurt him, please. Please don't hurt Zack." Tears are bordering his voice; it sounds like he's going to cry, and I really don't understand. He's just standing there and begging the guy, like _please don't kill me, I don't have enough money anyway_ type of voice.

_Why?_ I'd expect Cody to be angry, to lash out and attack everybody, but he's just sitting there, staring at the guy… staring at the guy, and staring at Zack who's eyes looked strangely glazed and rolling around…

"Leave him alone!" I yell, seeing that I have to take the initiative for Cody, who's now sitting uselessly on the pavement, rocking back and forth. My _God_, Cody can be pathetic—but I never realized _how _pathetic until now. Where's the Cody _I _know, who'll give up his life for his brother, do anything to protect Zack?

Where's that Cody? This one sitting and shaking on the pavement is _not _the Cody I know… this one's definitely not Cody…

I jump on the guy that's holding onto Zack, and then the guy drops him and backs off. I turn to face Zack, who's lying on the pavement feeling like a mother bear looking out for her bear cubs for some strange reason—as long as you don't tell Isabelle, it's good—shaking hard, shaking hard…

And that's when I realize Zack's _laughing._

He's laughing so hard he's _shaking_, and he looks like he's going to cry from laughing so hard. His eyes are squinted up and he's shaking and laughing like the type if someone's tickling you and you can't stop or when you've heard the most hilarious joke you've ever heard or the way like when I was laughing because I saw some kid fall into a trashcan and…

_WHAT?_

My throat squeezes up like a tube of toothpaste, sort of like when I'm around Isabelle, only this time it's because I'm _confused._ The guy who had just been beating up Zack awhile ago, pulls off his black mask to reveal a red-headed, freckled-face dork. Bob. I should've known Zack would've pulled something like this and got Bob the Builder to play a funny game with him. Haha, it's so funny. Funny one, funny one boys, what a knee-slapper, the funniest thing I've ever seen.

"I got you, didn't I?" Zack's laughing his head off, and for a second, I feel like punching him. But if you so kindly remember, Tapeworm doesn't like hurting people unless he really can't help it, like the time I hit Zack after Armageddon (our band) practice. "Oh my _GOD!_ You should have seen your face, Cody! Oh my God, you completely freaked out Tapeworm!" He's laughing so hard, his voice is become breathless in several areas as he continues to shake and slam his hands on the ground from laughing so hard.

I wish he was sitting in a lava pit and every time he hit the floor he got burned. I wish the ground he was slapping would open up in a hole and into a vortex of space so I didn't have to hear his obnoxious laughter anymore.

I want to kill him. I'm going to take that neck and snap it like a wishbone. Of course I couldn't _really _do that because he's not a chicken but…

You know what I mean.

I'm considering pounding his head in, but then I look over at Cody. And Cody's crying. And it makes me mad.

I hate it when Zack lacks so much sensitivity in his jokes, because they really hurt Cody sometimes.

So I go back to wanting to kill Zack right now. I almost do, but then I hear Cody say something.

I look back to see what in the world he's saying, and his eyes are all red and the tears are falling. His mouth opens, and he chokes out in this soft whisper, "Zack how could you do that?"

Zack throws a look at his brother. "Come on, Cody. You know it was funny. I mean, this blood's pretty cool, right? You'd never guess—it was ketchup!"

No wonder the red stuff reminded me of hotdogs.

"Zack, you took advantage of me," Cody goes on in that hurt, broken voice. "You just used me, used my love…"

"Aww, suck it up. Come on, Cody, it was just a joke," Zack says. He still doesn't understand how much he's hurt Cody, and he high-fives Bob the Builder. Stupid kid. (And Bob too. Bob the Builder of Broken Hearts—I hate that kid).

"Zack…" Cody breaks off because Zack's not listening. The tears keep running down his face as he just sits there in silence. Max and Jeremy and Warren come out from behind the building, laughing. Seems like they were in on the joke too, and now I hate all of them more than I've ever hated them before. Somehow I wish a tornado would come and take them all away to the Land of Oz so they could go and play their funny jokes over there with Dorothy and Toto. They'd deserve it—I hate Oz.

"How could you do that to him?" I say, in a dangerous whisper, because somehow I know that Cody's not going to say anything else. "You are _sick, _hurting your brother like that, what kind of funny games do you think you're playing? You should hate yourself—if I hurt someone like that I'd hate myself forever-"

Zack interrupts me. Figures. "Shut up, Tapeworm. We were just having some fun—Cody didn't have to get all sensitive on us, and he can talk for himself. He has a voice, you know. You're just too busy filling up the space for him, just shut up for a second."

Bob laughs.

"What are you laughing for, fat boy?" I ask him, feeling the hate seep in my words. I don't hate anybody this much… this isn't Tapeworm, Tapeworm doesn't hate. But I can't help it. I hate anyone who hurts Cody. He's so nice and vulnerable and sensitive, and it seems as if people always have to take advantage of it. "You shut up, close that fat mouth of yours before I punch your freckled face into pudding."

When I get mad I tend to call people fat. Well, not really, but in Bob's case I do. He's rather chubby, if you know what I mean, and the unhealthy-looking freckles don't make his complexion look so much nicer. I _hate _Bob, and I've tried not to hate people—because of the whole Isabelle thing—but _still._ Ahhh….

"Hey," snaps Zack, shoving me back. I trip over my leg, seeing that's like all I am at my ridiculously tall height. I fall hard on my butt, but I get up right away and glare at him again.

"How could you do that?" I'm yelling, and I realize how stupid I sound. I'm not going anywhere with this fight and I know it. Zack's just going to pull another trick on Cody, and another on after that, and I'm not going to do anything about it, but it feels good just standing there yelling my head off. So what, you guys? It's me—Tapeworm.

"What's wrong with you?" Zack asks. This guy can be very dim-witted and shallow sometimes. I feel like biting his hand off, and secretly wish I have rabies, so then I'd practically foam at the mouth, which would be pretty cool.

"_Stop_," comes a small voice before I can bite Zack's arm off and bury it in a hole and make him pay ten million dollars before I give it back. I turn and Cody's still crying, but he's standing up now, and he's shaking like he's scared. "Please Zack, you took advantage of me, God Zack, I was so _scared._ How could you do that? Zack, I thought… I thought… I thought _Dad _had come back."

A silence settles over all of us as we all stare at Cody. Zack's got this evil white glare in his eye, and he gives Cody a look that says something on the lines of _Now you've done it._ He turns and leaves, just letting us sit there… staring at Cody.

I guess Cody's party didn't turn out the way we'd planned.

_La-la. A look into Tapeworm's love-life coming right up. But you have to review first. This chapter was a little shorter than the other, sorry. But review anyway._


	3. Painful Stuff

**Author's Note**: I'm sorry this chapter's short. I'm starting to lose a little inspiration. I have to do some _major _thinking.

Chapter 3: Painful Stuff

I haven't talked to Zack or Cody since yesterday, but we're back at school now, and I can't help but crash into one of them when I get on the bus. It happens to be Cody. "Cody, what happened yesterday?"

He gives me a look that clearly says, _Shut up._

So I do. I don't say anything and if I wanted to, I couldn't either, because Isabelle is coming up the line onto the bus and she sits on the seat right across from me right next to her friend Alayna.

Oh God, I'm suddenly self-conscious about how I look… oh my God, do I look ok? I run my hands through my hair and suddenly feel embarrassed about how messy it is—something that hasn't bothered me for the last sixteen years I've been alive—why should it matter now?

"Hi Tapeworm," says Isabelle with a small grin.

"Hi," I say back, but only this small wheezy gasp comes out, so I try again. "_Hi._"

Alayna laughs a little, and I flush a deep red. Cody smiles knowingly at me, his mood better now that Tapeworm's being tortured. God, sometimes I hate Cody.

Isabelle just looks understandingly at me. I really am in love.

My heart's beating so quickly now, and I can't take my eyes off of her. She tucks a strand of black hair behind her ear, and somehow _I _want to be the one doing that, running my hands through her waterfall-looking-like hair, but of course I have to wash my hands first and…

She smiles at me, her teeth straight and even, her eyes bright and excited. I feel like I'm a punching bag and someone just hit me. I really want to go over there and sit next to her, because well… Isabelle _smells _really good—like vanilla ice cream or something.

Suddenly, I really want to eat a chocolate-chip-cookie.

Oh well, off subject. Anyway, the bus starts and I fall down on the ground and Alayna laughs at me, and Isabelle can't help a smile. I manage to scramble up in the bus seat next to Cody, my eyes darting over to Isabelle every once in awhile, but Cody keeps trying to catch my attention. God, why can't Cody see what's _important _sometimes? I can see him everyday, but _Isabelle…_

I'm so busy looking at her, the way she laughs and the way her eyes crinkle up in the corner, the pretty natural beauty she has—she doesn't even wear make-up usually—the light cleanness of her clothing…

"TAPEWORM!"

I literally jump about a foot in the air. "God, what _is _it Cody?'

Cody gives me a rather hurt look with those brown eyes. But somehow those brown eyes aren't getting the usual pity they get from me. I'm just mad because I could be looking at _Isabelle's _brown eyes instead of _Cody's._ Then I calm down and manage to realize what I'm thinking and how selfish I'm being.

"Sorry, Cody. What is it?"

Cody sighs in impatience. "Forget it," he says flatly.

"No, Cody, I'm really sorry," I butt in, trying to make him listen and understand. This is _Isabelle_ we're talking about here—the only person I've ever actually fallen in love with. (That's why I made sure not to tell my mom. My mom has the biggest mouth on the planet—well, maybe besides me. She'd be after me, trying to find out what the girl's _name _was, what she _looked _like, if she liked Peter Pan or not).

"I…" Cody breaks off as he glances at me. My eyes are going back to Isabelle—God, can you blame me? I _love _this girl!

"Sorry, Cody," I snap back over to him as Cody sighs again.

"So do you want to know what happened yesterday or not?" he asks me.

I nod yes.

"You know how I said the whole 'dad' thing?"

"Yeah." I know something's coming up that's important, so I keep my mouth shut for once. I even wish I had duct tape to tie it shut or something, so I'm not tempted to talk.

"Well… Zack really hurt me yesterday and why I said I thought _Dad _came back," Cody's voice is shaking now, shuddering like he's a leaf and he's about to fall apart any second.

"Cody…"

"Tapeworm, I have to tell you this because I can't handle it anymore, Tape. I'm sorry I'm being selfish, I'm sorry I'm scaring you, but I really can't…" his voice arches onto a higher note, "I really can't handle it anymore by _myself_," his voice is getting all teary, and he's talking really quietly now, keeping his eyes on his hands in his lap. "I mean, Zack was there to talk to me about it, but after what he did _yesterday_… I don't think I can…"

I'm starting to get really impatient—_itchy_ even, from all this waiting. I wish Cody would just tell me what's going on so I don't have to sit here and feel all antsy and so I can go back to looking at Isabelle. But I don't say anything, because I know how Cody is when he's saying something serious.

"My dad left when we were eight—I think you know that."

I nod.

"And, well, he comes to visit us a couple times each year and…"

I nod, waiting for more to come. I wish Cody would just hurry up and say what he has to say.

"I don't want him to come this time because…"

_WOULD YOU JUST GET ON WITH IT AND TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON? HOW BIG OF A DEAL CAN IT BE? GOD!_

"My dad goes out and gets drunk..."

Ooh, this is getting pretty serious. My heart's starting to beat faster, just sitting here next to Cody.

"And sometimes he comes back and he beats us."

Then I know why Cody took his time dragging it out. It's painful stuff…

And I know better than anyone what it's like.

**Author's Note**: Gasp! It was sort of repetitive, sorry, but I hope you liked it anyway. Review?


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